Letters to the editor for Friday, Sept. 19, 2013

Plant a tree; counter government’s damage

Yesterday my wife and I planted a tree. Trees are effectively carbon storage and collection batteries; they store enough energy to heat campfires and cook stoves for centuries.

The Rim fire consumed a huge portion of the stored carbon in at least 20 million trees (assuming 100 trees per acre). The industry emissions fee for that much CO2 would be huge.

In the war on coal, carbon and CO2, Harry Reid and the president just lost. The release was to a large degree based on poor federal policies over decades. The biggest loss is reduction of carbon absorption where trees are very effective.

Plant a tree wherever you can. Citizens have lots of work to counter the work of governments.

Ray Bacon

Carson City

Letter on God read like vintage Twain satire

I was fascinated to learn (from the letter written by Carson City’s Rosalee Barnwell Hinton) that forest fires are the result of God’s displeasure with gays, Joel Osteen, Democrats and female ministers. If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think I was reading a Mark Twain satirical piece from the Territorial Enterprise in the 1860s rather than a supposed “modern day” opinion.

According to archeologists, for possibly thousands of years Native Americans successfully managed forests with controlled burns. Then the “white man” came along and introduced the policy of total suppression of fires for nearly a century. While this policy was discredited in the 1970s and forest management changed for the better, the massive amounts of fuel that built up on the forest floors over those decades have led to today’s massive fires.

If you subscribe to Ms. Hinton’s view, God directed man to start putting out all forest fires beginning in the early 20th century to punish the “corrupters” of the early 21st century. This conveniently absolves any responsibility for mismanagement of the forests. The Lord truly works in mysterious ways.

Martin M. Wilgers

Gardnerville